Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said someone burrowed into the website and shut it down for much of Monday, two days after 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed.

The death has stoked racial tension, protests and a night of looting, along with calls for police to publicly release the officer’s name.

An anonymous global group of activists and hackers had pledged to create mischief with Ferguson’s city computers if the name wasn’t released.

But Jackson said releasing the information could endanger the officer, who has received numerous death threats.

Jackson said he was unaware whether the hackers obtained any personal information about police officers from the website.

Ferguson, a predominantly black city of roughly 21,000 residents, is about 10 miles northeast of St. Louis.

Michael BrownPhoto: AP

John Gaskin III of St. Louis County’s NAACP and the Brown family’s attorney, Ben Crump, said separately Wednesday that knowing the officer’s name would allow groups outraged by the shooting to scrutinize the officer’s background and learn whether he has faced other complaints of brutality.

Investigators have released few details, saying only that a scuffle unfolded after the officer asked Brown and another teen to get out of the street, and that the officer’s weapon fired at some point inside a patrol car.

Witnesses say Brown had his hands raised when the officer repeatedly shot him.